Final Cut Pro X Updates Released

Recently, Apple released the first major update to their wildly popular Final Cut Pro X video editing software. The upgrade includes a host of new features that Apple says have been highly sought-after by professional customers.

Probably the biggest new feature is XML support, which adds the option to import and export projects and events in the XML format. This will allow users to work on XML formatted projects in Final Cut Pro X, thus addressing one of the biggest concerns among the users of the software, who often found themselves unable to open old Final Cut Pro projects in their new version of the program. Though it is indirect, the update will let users export a file from Final Cut Pro 7 in XML, and then open it up by importing it into Final Cut Pro X.

Additionally, Apple has been working to make Final Cut Pro more compatible with new technology being released by camera manufacturers by offering a new software development kit; this kit lets camera makers write plugins for their new cameras into Final Cut Pro X.

But, that's not all.

Here is a list of some of the other new features added to Final Cut Pro X:

- Support for projects and events through Xsan- Support for media stems (or audio channeling) that lets users assign roles to media after it is imported into a project, which makes it easy to export things like dialogue, sound effects and soundtracks in a single pass- Custom starting timecodes- Toggle for a full-screen view (only for Mac OS X Lion users)- GPU-accelerated export- A new theme known as "Tribute"- One-step transitions on connected clips

In an effort to entice people to switch to Final Cut Pro, or for users of Final Cut Pro 7 users to upgrade, Apple is currently offering a free trial Final Cut Pro X, as well as publishing a PDF guide called "Final Cut Pro X for Final Cut Pro 7 Editors."

Those interested in checking out Final Cut Pro X, with all of its new updates, can access the 30-day free trial here.